


the shadows surround

by thepensword



Series: tumble taz [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Prompt Fill, ango takes a hit im sorry, implied/referenced child abuse please stay safe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-16 07:52:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15432414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepensword/pseuds/thepensword
Summary: Taako gets a call. Angus takes a hit. Nightmares are had, and Phantasmal Killer is a horrible spell.





	the shadows surround

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: "Get out of my way!"
> 
> hi my discord pals reacted with horror as i was brainstorming this concept so i hope you enjoy

The call comes at midnight.

Taako isn’t asleep; he’s never been much of a sleeper, even on the Starblaster. Perhaps it’s his childhood on the road, his habit of wariness; perhaps it’s the calm he gets from the darkness of the night. Regardless, he’s awake and in the kitchen and baking, because that is what you do when you’re Taako and you’re not doing anything else.

It’s a peaceful night. The wind blows softly through the trees and the cicadas swell and fade like the rush and lull of waves. Taako is humming softly under his breath, perfectly content as he pops the tin of muffins into the oven.

His Stone of Farspeech chimes softly. Taako glances over, curious, and finishes washing his hands. He dries them off with the soft dish towel he keeps by the sink and goes to answer it.

“Hello?”

There’s a breath on the other end. _“Taako,”_ says the caller, and it takes Taako a brief moment to identify the voice as Lucas. _Why is Lucas, of all people, calling him?_

_And why does he sound so nervous?_

“Uh, hey, Lucas,” says Taako, and does his best not to let his sudden worry sound through. “What’s up?”

_“Taako, uh, please don’t freak out but I, um. I need you to come down to the school and uh. It’s not…it’s not that ba—well, it’s. Look, don’t freak out but it’s, um. It’s Angus.”_

Taako drops the Stone and starts running.

 

* * *

 

He’s wheezing by the time he gets to the school. He’s still in pajamas and slippers, shivering in the night air and spent from running all the way here from his house on the outskirts of Neverwinter, but he cannot bring himself to care. His thoughts are a constant cycle of worry and fear, chanting over and over again, _Angus, Angus, Angus._

Lucas meets him at the door to the infirmary. “Oh, Taako, thank the gods you’re—”

 _“Get out of my way!_ ” snarls Taako, and pushes past him.

The infirmary is dark, and at first Taako does not see anything. Then his eyes find Angus lying on one of the beds, curled up tightly and looking so, so very small.

“Angus,” says Taako, and runs to him.

His magic boy does not look good. His face is scrunched up tight, eyes moving back and forth beneath his eyelids. He’s breathing hard, chest rising and falling rapidly, mouth open as he gasps for air. Small whimpers escape his throat, broken and terrified like half-swallowed screams.

“Angus,” repeats Taako. He reaches out to grab Angus’ shoulders and his boy flinches away, breathing even harder. He’s lost, Taako knows instantly, trapped inside his mind and unable to tell where he is, unable to see anything but the waking nightmares dancing behind his eyelids.

“What is it?” asks Lucas from where he’s hovering in the doorway. “What’s wrong with him?”

A gentle prod with his magic, a quick mental scan through all the spells he’s ever heard of. “Phantasmal killer,” he says, and his heart plummets all the way into his slippers.

“O-oh,” says Lucas. “Is he…is he going to be alright?”

Taako closes his eyes and reaches out to grasp Angus’ hand and tries to breathe. “It’s called phantasmal _killer_ ,” he says flatly. “So I don’t know.”

“Should I go get someone? Merle, or…or—”

Taako reaches for his Stone but oh, right—he’d left it where he dropped it, on the floor of the kitchen of his empty house. It shouldn’t be empty, except Kravitz and Lup and Barry are working and Magnus is visiting Refuge and Merle is with his kids and Angus is…Angus is…

“Fuck,” says Taako. “Give me your Stone.”

“My what?”

“Your Stone!” snaps Taako. He doesn’t like Lucas much on a good day, and right now he absolutely does not have the patience. Lucas jumps and reaches into his pocket, tentatively crossing the room to place the Stone in Taako’s outstretched hand.

He could call anyone. He should call Merle, to heal him. He could call Kravitz, and briefly he wants to, but then he punches in the frequency he knows by heart, defaulting to the one person that he has always, always been able to trust.

 _“Sup,”_ says Lup, and suddenly Taako is crying, because his boy is hurting and he doesn’t know how to fix it and _things were supposed to be perfect after they beat the Hunger, damnit, why do bad things still happen—_

“Lup,” says Taako. “Lup, it’s Angus.”

He doesn’t know what else to say, but evidently he doesn’t need to because in the next moment there is a tearing sound and a portal opens up behind him. Lup steps out, scythe in hand, and takes in the situation in an instant.

“Oh,” she says. She banishes her scythe and rushes to kneel beside him, placing a comforting hand on his arm. With her other hand, she reaches out to feel Angus’ face, frowning at the heat that boils beneath his skin.

“What happened?”

“He was on a case,” supplies Lucas. “He stumbled back to the school in the middle of what looked like a panic attack and then he just collapsed and I don’t know what—”

Lup is frowning, eyes closed as she moves her hand from Angus’ cheek to his forehead, and then she pulls away with a gasp. “Taako, this is—”

“I know.” His voice breaks on the second word and he knows he’s just moments away from losing it. “Lup, what do we do?”

She places her hands on either side of his face and kisses his forehead before standing. “I’m going to go get Merle,” she says, and summons her scythe again. She cuts a clean slice through the air and then pauses, pointing at the Stone still in his hand. “Call Kravitz. I’ll be right back.”

And then she’s stepping through the portal and Taako is aching with the loss of her touch. He lowers his head to rest against Angus’ side and calls Kravitz.

 

* * *

 

“We’ll have to wait,” says Merle, and his voice is softer than usual. “I can’t heal him until he’s out of it.”

“But what if it kills him?” Taako’s voice sounds distant even to his own ears, echoing and broken as he holds Angus’ hand and hopes with everything in him that this will all turn out alright.

Lup’s breath stutters beside him and she leans her head against his shoulder. Kravitz sighs heavily and squeezes his hand.

“It won’t,” reassures Merle. There’s a glimmer of holy light around his fingers as he removes them from Angus’ forehead and he smiles grimly. “I may not be able to heal him yet but at least I can tell you that much. The damage roll isn’t high enough for that.” He pats Angus’ hair with more fondness than he would usually admit to. “Kid’s stronger than he looks.”

“So we just…wait?” asks Lup. “There’s nothing we can do to help?”

“We can be there for him,” says Merle. “And try to let him know he’s not alone.”

 

* * *

 

Angus is lost.

He’s drifting in a void of nothingness, surrounded by looming, shifting shadows that change from one shape to the next. He is alone and he is frightened, surrounded by the silhouettes of all that he fears most.

 **You’ll never be enough** , says a shadow in the shape of his mother but gigantic, looming above him with pits of darkness swirling where her eyes should be. **You’re so useless, you foolish, terrible boy.**

Her edges blur and meld into another shape, taller, broader; **You never learn,** says his father. **Your disrespect is your sin and you will be punished until my lesson sinks in.**

“No,” whimpers Angus, and curls up into a tighter ball on the shifting, incorporeal floor. “Please.”

 _Angus_ , says Taako.

Snarling beasts form and loom over him, the hideous shapes of the Hunger closing in and tearing, tearing—he feels himself fall apart in pieces. His mother reaches down with long fingers and plucks away his freedom, his father grabs his happiness, and the Hunger takes his very life force. He is strung into a million pieces of himself, watching as the world he loves is ripped to shreds. He sees Magnus fall beneath a dragon’s claws. He sees Merle overrun by a million screaming shadows. He sees Taako cry out as he is consumed by inky black flames.

“No,” sobs Angus.

 **This is what you have wrought** , says his mother. **This is your own pride and weakness.**

_“No.”_

_Ango_ , says Taako. _Ango, Ango, I’m here._

Angus reaches out towards the still burning shape of the elf he has come to love, blinded by tears that will not fall. “Taako,” he gasps. “Taako, Taako, please—”

Taako turns to ash and disappears on the icy wind and Angus crumples to his knees, clawing at his own chest in some futile attempt to tear out the pain lying between his ribs. “ _No—”_

_I’m here, Ango, I’m here._

_Wake up,_ says Lup. _Angus, baby, please wake up. It’s going to be alright._

 _You’re safe_ , says Kravitz, quiet, reassuring tones. _It’s not your time just yet._

His father reaches for him with a heavy fist and Angus flinches back directly into his mother’s grasp. She wraps iron fingers around his arm and shakes him and he cries out in pain and fear as the Hunger eats at his essence and then—

 _I think I can pull him out, now,_ says Merle.

—then, there is light.

 

* * *

 

Angus blinks open his eyes into a darkened room and the first thing he sees is Taako’s face, unharmed but lined with worry.

“Sir?” asks Angus, in a voice as dry and cracked as the charred bones he’d been so sure he’d see.

Taako lets out a long breath of air like he’s been holding it for centuries. “Ango,” he says, and then huffs in surprise as Angus lurches upright and throws his arms around him, burying his face in his chest and clutching desperate handfuls of the back of his shirt. There’s a brief moment of hesitance before Taako hugs him back and it’s such a wonderfully safe sensation that Angus’ lungs convulse and suddenly he’s crying.

“Hey, pumpkin,” says Taako. “You’re okay.”

And Angus laughs through his tears because now he sees Lup and Kravitz and Merle and even Lucas, and Taako’s right here, holding him, so he knows it’s true: he’s okay, and so are his family.

Lup sniffles loudly and throws her arms around the both of them, dragging Kravitz with her, until it’s just the four of them holding each other in this darkened school infirmary.

They sit there like that for a while. It’s hard to judge time when he’s as messed up as he is, but he knows he’s there long enough for his tears to dry and his throat to start hurting. He pulls away and looks up and is surprised to find that there are tears on Taako’s face, too. Lucas has left at this point, and Merle is dozing in a chair over in the corner, but the other three are here and safe and he knows with sudden certainty that everyone else he loves will be safe as well, that his chosen family will always be here to chase the monsters out from under his bed.

(Angus thinks of the looming shadows of his parents and he knows that no matter what, this family will not let them touch him, or even come near.)

“You feeling better now, babe?” asks Lup softly, flicking his nose with a gentle finger. He giggles wetly and scrubs at his cheeks, nodding as he does so.

“Yeah,” he says. His voice sounds really, really terrible, all hoarse and cracking and broken edges, but right now he doesn’t care. His family is right here. They’ll always be here.

Taako stands, scooping him up in his arms. It’s awkward, given that Angus is twelve years old and tall for his age and Taako isn’t exactly Magnus, but they make it work. “Let’s go home, bubbelah,” says Taako. “I’ll make you cookies, how does that sound?”

“Yeah,” says Angus. “That sounds good.”

They don’t talk about the nightmares. They don’t talk about the case. They don’t mention it when Kravitz and Lup slip away, when the morning paper declares the puzzling appearance of the Nightmare Thief, battered and bound, right on the Militia’s doorstep, when the two Reapers return with rumpled clothes and blood on their hands and grim smiles on their faces.

Angus snuggles tighter into the enormous fluffy blanket that’s been wrapped around his shoulders and takes another bite of his chocolate chip cookie. Lup ruffles his curls as she passes, and he watches her obnoxiously shove her way between Taako and Kravitz as they kiss. Taako squawks offendedly at her and Kravitz sighs and Lup laughs and yes, this is what a family should feel like.

Angus is a smart little boy, and the things he knows, he knows with certainty. And one of these things, one piece of knowledge backed by so, so much evidence, is that he is safe.

Last night was horrible, but they’re going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on [tumblr](https://thepensword.tumblr.com)


End file.
